The present invention relates to a headlight adjusting device for a motor vehicle such as an automobile, the device being of the type wherein adjusting screws are respectively arranged between one bearing at the vehicle and/or at a supporting frame mounted to the vehicle and one bearing associated with the headlight, the adjusting screws being secured in position without axial and transverse play in one of said bearings and held axially in fixed position and transversely in a movable position in the other of said bearings and wherein these other bearings are held without play by elastic support means.
In a conventional adjusting device of this type (DAS [German Published Application] No. 1,805,016), the bearings wherein the adjusting screws are secured in position without play in the axial and transverse directions are arranged in the supporting frame. The other bearings are constituted by slotted holes extending in the peripheral direction of the headlight reflector and formed in flanges along the periphery of the reflector. Annular grooves of the adjusting screws engage the slotted holes in such a way that, during an adjustment, a transverse movement can take place to effect distance compensation.
In this known device a single spring arranged outside of the range of the adjusting screws in the supporting frame engages the reflector and eliminates play in all other bearings. For this purpose, the spring is made to be relatively strong. Since it engages at a point outside of the adjusting screws at the reflector, this spring is thus also effective, via the adjusting screws, on the bearings which are without play anyway, and therefore acts on all bearings. This leads to a constant stress on the adjusting screws and the bearings. Furthermore, this stress makes it necessary during an adjustment of the reflector to overcome additional friction in the bearings at the supporting frame, resulting moreover in difficulties in case the adjustment process takes place with auxiliary power.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide an adjusting device of the type described hereinabove in a structurally simple fashion so that a stress on the bearings wherein the adjusting screws are anyway secured axially and transversely without any play, may be avoided.
This and other objects of the present invention are attained by providing that respective elastic elements are arranged at the other bearing points.
Each elastic element eliminates axial play directly at the point where the transverse movement is provided. The adjusting screws and the bearings which are without play anyway may thus be relieved, since the elastic elements are restricted in their action to the other bearings. Thereby, adjustment can be effected with a low adjusting power.
In one advantageous embodiment of the present invention the adjusting screws are respectively arranged between one bearing at a supporting frame mounted to the vehicle with mounting means and one bearing associated with the headlight, the bearings at the supporting frame being located in the direct vicinity of the mounting means of the supporting frame. With such an arrangement the weight of the reflector and/or optionally of the entire headlight is effective only between the bearings of the adjusting screws and the respectively adjacent mounting point of the supporting frame on the supporting frame, so that the latter can be manufactured of a lightweight, thermoplastic synthetic resin.
As an additional feature of the present invention the headlight includes a reflector with means being provided for fixedly holding the reflector at a point and bearings for two adjusting screws being respectively arranged in a plane horizontal and a plane vertical with respect to said point at the periphery of the reflector. Such a device is especially simple from a constructional viewpoint, the vertical and lateral adjustment of the headlight requiring in each case only one adjusting screw. Furthermore, in case of a vertical or lateral adjustment, the respectively other adjustment of the headlight is not changed.
In this last-mentioned form of the present invention an adjusting member of an illuminating range adjusting means may engage the adjusting screw in the vertical plane for vertical adjustment. There is no need with such an arrangement for a spacer ring carrying the reflector or headlight and being held without stress with respect to the car body.
In an advantageous further feature of the present invention elastic elements are U-shaped spring clips slotted in the direction of their legs, the adjusting screws engaging in the slots of the spring clips with the clips resting on their associated adjusting screw end on the reflector. An elastic element in the form of a spring clip can be manufactured in a simple way from spring steel sheet, is commercially available, and is thus economical.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purposes of illustration only, one embodiment in accordance with the present invention .